Ruby Blue
by Petileo
Summary: Au. Sasunaru, female Naruto. “You are reality Naruto, you’re my reality.” He smirked, and she never wished for to be able to hit him more than she did at that moment. “And you know how much I hate dreams…” M for safety.
1. Someone who is Perfect

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.

**A/N: I'm not entirely sure why i'm posting this...it has a female Naruto, who is annoying and OOC, and then there's Sasuke, who also horrible, disgustingly OOC...And its completely different from everything else i wrote. It was a killer plot bunny, and it wouldnt go away. At any rate, it's a short story, with three parts already written, just in need of posting. (my Beta doesn't like this story much- so its pretty much uneditted to). So, um...yeah. Leave a review if you want, especially if its to say the story is unbearable and should be taken down immediately- it will.**

Warnings: Female Naruto, one sided SasuTem, Sainaru, and some swearing and insinuations. And vomit inducing OOC. Enjoy!

* * *

It was a grey day, ironic that it would be what gave him light during the upcoming years, no matter how misplaced it may have been.

After all, did it really matter if it were real or not? He _thought_ it was. And that was by far enough for a child who neither knew what he truly wanted or could properly distinguish reality from fantasy.

But that day, hindsight would have no influence over the events that would unfold.

Sasuke had spent the entire day feeling wet. And cold. He had been forced to walk to school because his brother had refused to give him a lift, and an umbrella would have proved useless, considering the strong winds would have blown it away in seconds.

He had been extremely happy by the end of the day to discover that the storm had only chosen to get worse during school hours. Now, just when he had been drying off from the school radiators, he was about to get drenched again. He hadn't bothered to fight the scowl and had irritably made sure all his books were covered in his satchel before heading out.

There was usually another reason why he didn't like walking around by himself. At the age of ten years, he was generally at least a good two feet below normal eye level, and the packed streets of Tokyo were brimming with those who didn't particularly care if they steeped in small children.

What with the atrociously wet and windy weather, which had broken fence slats and dislodged roof tiles, the way home was even more hazardous than usual. It wasn't long before he became frustrated pushing his way through the crowds and got continuously splashed by the puddles as cars drove through them at high speed.

It was slightly unsurprising then when in the grey light, and already confined visibility that eventually Sasuke found himself out of the main crowds and on a street he had never seen before in his life. Dark eyes widening he had spun around, rain plastering his black hair to the sides of his face.

One way was unknown high fenced road, a steaming vent misting in the freezing air, while the other he could make out the passing horde of commuters, the tide of human beings too fast for him to desire to go back.

Another glance around provided the knowledge that he wasn't as alone as he had thought. This wasn't as comforting as he wanted it to be, considering they seemed awfully a lot like the 'trash' that he had heard his father talking angrily about at family meals.

All in all, they didn't look too friendly.

Some of the water trailing down his face in small rivulets seemed to be suspiciously warm. It was just that-his parents were away at the moment on a business trip, having left last night, without saying goodbye. Which also left Itachi in charge, and he had been in a bad mood for some reason or another last night…. and this morning too, considering he had refused to drive him to school through the storming weather.

And now he had no idea where he was!

With cold water continuously dousing his entire frame, making him shiver, it seemed that today would never end.

Just as he was inching back to the main street, keeping reddening eyes on the tramp that was leering at him from the awning of one of the buildings, he suddenly felt the rainfall suddenly cut off.

Freezing, he slowly turned around; only to see the most beautiful woman he had ever seen in his life. He couldn't help but blush slightly.

The girl was older than him, obvious from the high school uniform she was wearing, her waisted school shirt slightly damp as it clung to her. Due to her tall stature she was leaning over him, exposing the smooth skin around her collarbone. Her soft blonde hair was tied up at they back of her head, the slight spikes wilted due to the humid air of the wet weather.

She was holding a large umbrella over them, and Sasuke didn't think he would ever see anyone so perfect in his life.

"Hey, are you alright, you look a little lost?"

His blush deepened a little as he heard her voice; it was lower than he had expected, but it suited her just as perfectly as the rest of her.

Embarrassed he couldn't seem to form any words all of a sudden he only managed a hesitant nod.

The girl merely smiled at him, an action that caused him to feel his heartbeat pounding in his ears.

"Well, that certainly won't do will it? I know I'd be terrified if one of my brothers didn't come home when they were supposed to…what's your name?"

Summoning some of his missing Uchiha pride, he managed to answer without stuttering.

"Uchiha Sasuke."

The girl blinked in surprise.

"Uchiha? Why, you only live just around from my house! We moved there a little while ago!"

Sasuke swallowed, inwardly musing that they couldn't have been there long, as surely he would have noticed her walking around their neighbourhood before.

"Really?"

The girl nodded peaceably.

"Uhuh, well that makes things a lot easier doesn't it? We can just go home together then?"

Sasuke hadn't heard of a better idea in his life, for more than just wanting to get out of the rain.

"Ano…what's your name?"

The girl blinked teal eye's in surprise.

"Oh, didn't I say?"

Sasuke reverted back to unspoken answers with a shake of his head, feeling it was much safer that way that he wasn't going to suddenly _blurt _something out.

Just as she opened her mouth, presumably to answer, a much lower voice cut in from outside the water-free confines of the umbrella.

"Hey, can I buy you a drink, or do you just want the cash, princess?"

A man, crinkled business suit untucked, had wandered over, and was currently looking over the girl's long legs as if there were on at half price.

The blonde in question wrinkled in disgust and put a hand on Sasuke's shoulder, prepared to drag him back with her.

"No you creep, now fuck off!" she yelled crassly, startling Sasuke slightly, wondering where such a nice looking girl went to learn language like that. Not that he thought too much about it, rather wanting to get home, or at the very least, have this…_man_ get away from them and back to whatever hole he had obviously crawled out of; suit or not. This was another sort of people his father had strong thoughts on. He would be most displeased to find that Sasuke had met one when he got back from Osaka.

"Oh, come on baby, why don't we ditch the kid and go have some fun, eh?"

He stepped closer, bringing the recognisable smell of sake with him. Sasuke was starting to not only feel hear, but as the girl growled and jumped back, yanking him back with her as the man tried to grab at her elbow, he felt frustratingly useless. Girls such as her shouldn't have to deal with bastards like these, he should be able to do something, anything.

Yet he didn't, mindful of the string grip the girl had on his shoulder and the much bigger size of the man opposite; he may take several martial arts lessons, but he knew what was suicidal, and what wasn't.

Fear returned as they both hit the brick wall of the street, umbrella crinkling up against the wet grill above their heads.

The girl was scowling fiercely and for a one moment Sasuke almost thought that she would actually lash out and punch the man right in the face.

Thankfully a voice came calling.

"Are you alright there, miss?"

Sighing gratefully, the girl turned to a man standing nearby the corner where the road connected to the main one.

The girl nodded with a slight bow, before striding down to join the main street, one eyes over her shoulder to make sure the drunken man wasn't following them. He wasn't, merely grumbling at the pavement.

"Now, before we were interrupted what was I going to say?" she asked slightly breathlessly, gaze turning down on him as they shuffled their way down to the station, rain pelting the umbrella to block out the noise of passer-by's.

"Oh yes, I was going to introduce myself, well Sasuke-chan I'm Sabaku Temari, nice to meet you!"

She smiled again, and Sasuke was sure he had never heard of a sweeter name than Temari.

"Pleased to meet you to Temari-san."

She grabbed his hand and led his down the steps to the station, making his palm feel warm.

As she shook the umbrella closed as they went underground, he was sure that today was perhaps the best of his life. For that day, he met Temari.

He silently promised himself in the way home, that he would never let anyone get away with treating her like that ever again. And, that when he was older, she wouldn't be calling him 'Sasuke-chan'.

* * *

She bit her lip nervously and clenched the small package in her hands so much that her knuckles went white. She stood fretfully outside the classroom door, the rest of her classmates bouncing around, making the most of the break between classes. If she didn't hurry, she wouldn't have the chance to do it until tomorrow, just like it had been for the past two weeks.

No! She wouldn't back out, not this time.

She would give it to him.

She shifted slightly, and absentmindedly tightened the ribbons that held up her hair, placed there livingly by her guardian, who had been quite surprised when she requested the blue ones instead of her usual favourite orange. He didn't like bright colours, or so she didn't think, and she wanted to seem as perfect as possible.

She desperately tried not to fidget, in the end compromising by straightening the creases out of her skirt.

She didn't like the fact that lots of the other girls did this; and it was disheartening to see the results often garnered form the attempt. But she wasn't like those other girls.

She had been thinking about, at times more than others, ever since she had first seen him enter school with her, at age four. One of her earliest memories was of that boy; dark hair and even darker eyes, just crying out for her to go talk to him. Her initial attempts hadn't gone so well.

She presumed it was for the same reasons no one else in school was friends with her. But, it wasn't in her nature to give up, and she certainly wasn't going to do it now. Biting her lip, she steeled herself and pushed the door open a little, just so she could slip in, hoping she wouldn't be seen. She had no desire to give Kiba even more teasing material.

Sasuke sat at his desk, hunched up like usual, hands folded in front of his face; it was a classic pose for him to strike while thinking, presumably about much higher things than the rest of what their schoolmates did. Sasuke was cool like that.

He didn't even blink as he felt a shadow hover over his desk uncertainly.

"A-ano…Sasuke-kun, I-I brought something for you."

He refused to look up, or even give a sign he recognised the voice that had spoken. A small package was placed on the corner of his desk, and the small piece, delicately tied with ribbon, was pushed towards him. Annoyed at being disturbed, particularly as he was thinking about Temari from the night before, he raised his head to glare at the girl standing nervously in front if him.

Though he didn't let it show, he was somewhat surprised at who it was, not having bothered to listen to what was said earlier. Of course, he really shouldn't be _that _surprised, this girl; she was probably the stupidest of the lot.

"So, the dobe was last in this too," he muttered, feeling nothing more than apathy as the blonde in front of him turned red. She wasn't pretty, he decided critically, not even that cute either- she was far too tanned, with a round face, strange whisker-like scars marring her cheeks. Not to mention, she was the point of ridicule for the rest of the class.

Sasuke, feeling more vindictive than usual, poked at the little box on his desk offensively, watching intently as a crowd began to gather. The blonde girl in the middle of it looked as if she would rather be dunked in the school's pond, than be here.

"Che, what's this supposed to be, usuratonkachi?"

Some of the students around them giggled, mostly the girls. Everyone always jumped at the chance to laugh at Uzumaki Nartuo, the loser of the entire year.

Naruto, surrounded on all sides, found herself going red again, though this time in anger.

"It's a gift, Sasuke-kun," he said form between gritted teeth, wincing when all said boy did was raise an eyebrow, taking another lazy glance to the little box.

"I don't like sweet things," he said drolly, used to repeating this sentence often during his school years so far.

Naruto huffed, as she heard some more giggles from behind her. Snapping around to glare at them, to only have them stop with serious looks on their face's, she angrily spun back around to Sasuke.

"That's not the point!"

"Oh?" he asked dryly, "and what is the point then?"

Naruto pursed her lips together, unaware of the how comic it looked, and why it inspired a howl of laughter from the side.

"It doesn't matter whether you like it or not, it's the appreciation of the thought that matters!" she said firmly.

Sasuke barely deigned to answer her, looking down indifferently at her gift.

"And why would you think that I would ever appreciate anything from _you?"_

She couldn't help it. She squeaked, and bit her tongue to keep her mouth shut. The others around her broke down into full-fledged hilarity, some holding onto desks, while some of the girls cooed about how right Sasuke-kun was. Naruto, with mounting horror could begin to feel hot, stinging tears well up, her throat feeling suspiciously dry. She had…she had wanted to at least be friends with Sasuke for such a long time. And now, he had just trampled on her as if she was nothing, nothing at all. Her classmates said it to her all the time; but this time, she just couldn't stop the hurt. Funny, she thought it had scarred over a long time ago. Trust Sasuke to open it all up again, using her feelings for him to do so.

"You bastard!" she screamed at him, doing what she always did; be loud to cover up the hurt.

But Sasuke didn't even turn to face her, having gone back to quietly stare out the window.

"Oi! Oi! Naruto! And here I thought you weren't even a girl! Ha! I guess even a baka like you thinks she has a chance with precious Sasuke huh?"

"Shut up Kiba!" she yelled back in return, "I least Sasuke is actually a person! In my opinion I'm rather worried about how much _you_ love your _dog!_"

That shut the boy up, fierce brown eye's glaring at her deeply. Naruto could only summon a small amount of pride though, before she ran out the classroom, rushing to lock herself in one of the toilets. She refused to let anyone see how upset she was- the only person she let see her cry was Iruka, and that wouldn't be changing any time soon.

If anyone heard sobs from the third floor's girls' bathroom that day, they ignored it.

* * *

"Saaasssuuuuukkkeeeeee!"

Sasuke sighed as he slammed the metal door to his locker shut, not even bothering to try to get out the way as a blonde blur skidded round the corner, several indignant shouts of "Hey!" following, before he was practically tackled to the ground.

Irritated at having another person touching him, he roughly pushed her off, scowling fiercely. Said blonde simply backed away, grinning widely as she gazed up at him. Two years, and she was still the shortest in the class.

"Usuratonkachi," he mumbled.

It didn't have the effect he wanted though, only making the girl next to him chuckle, flicking her long blonde hair over her shoulder.

"Aww, hello to you to Sasuke-yarou! You're a rather crappy friend to be calling me names all the time, you know that?"

"Speak for yourself," muttered Sasuke annoyed, "And you're not my friend."

Naruto let the comment roll off her back and onto the floor, too used to the Uchiha's prickly demeanour by now to get too offended- if he really wanted to hurt her, he had plenty of other material to use.

"But what would you call me then?"

"An annoyance."

"Bastard…" grumbled Naruto, before hitching her bag onto her hip, riffling through the contents in a valiant search for her Japanese books. This new arrangement, of Sasuke actually responding to her, was a new development, and one that had puzzled many, not limited to the others girls in their class either.

Sasuke had never been sociable any sense of the word, and especially never with _Naruto _of all people. But yet, no matter how much they seemed to fight, you would more often than not see them in each other's company.

When prodded, Sasuke had irritably snapped that she wasn't nearly as bad as those who hounded him all the time. Further investigation yielded that apparently after the 'incident' two years ago, Naruto had completely given up on Sasuke _that _way, - "Who'd ever want to date a bastard like that anyway?" There was some speculation that Naruto was always around Sasuke just so she could annoy him all the more. And the reason why Sasuke put up with it was simply because he had learned early on just to tune out her incessant chatter.

It was the only reasonable conclusion anyone could come up with.

The reality of course, was a little different. Of course, Naruto _did _like to annoy Sasuke as much as possible and Sasuke _did_ tune her out a lot of the time. But there was more to it than that.

Naruto had been the most depressed than she'd ever been after Sasuke's cold rejection. The one person's opinion that really mattered to her, and he'd ripped her to pieces. Though she really couldn't have expected anything less; Sasuke didn't like _any _of the girls, why would he have any interest in _her_, the class idiot that always got picked on, and had no real parents. Not to mention she didn't have any of the classically beautiful looks of usual Japanese women.

She'd almost given up all hope, when, purely by chance, she had stumbled across a lone Uchiha on the top floor after class one day. He had been staring out the window silently, like he often did, looking out over the dark rain clouds outside. She was thankful he hadn't noticed her as she hid around the corner.

It had been though the reflection caused by the glass, that she had seen it.

Eye's filled with loneliness.

For in the end, she had realised, her and Sasuke were one and the same; whose eye's held the same feeling and intent.

From that day on, she had sworn to herself not to be alone anymore, and also, not to let Sasuke be alone either. He had hurt her, but then again, everyone did.

And if at first you don't succeed, try, try again.

Which was exactly what Naruto did. She didn't try to catch his attentions in any sort of romantic way, that wasn't what was needed. It had taken her a while to come up a flawless plan to become friends with Sasuke- she had spent hour's hole dup in her bare bedroom, thinking it over, and wondering about all she knew of Sasuke. Iruka had given her very worried looks, obviously anxious about her abrupt change in behaviour. She could still remember her questioning her over ramen at the dinner table.

In the end, she had gone with simplicity. And really, that was probably genius. She merely ensured that she was…there. She would talk to him, uncaring if he didn't reply, or if he did, irately telling her to _go away_, she would- only to turn up again a few minutes later. The sight of his ever-increasing twitch in his left eye was gleefully considered payback for embarrassing her in front of the class.

She had briefly wondered if the time would come when he would eventually snap and actually hit or shout at her. She had even mentally prepared herself for it, determined not to let Sasuke get away. She had been pleasantly surprised when no such event occurred, and he simply seemed to get used to her presence.

Seemed like Sasuke needed a friend just as much as she did.

They even had certain lines that they unspoken, mutually agreed not to cross.

It was…wonderful

Not that she would ever admit that out loud to Sasuke- he had developed the nasty habit of finding it amusing to get her as angry as possible.

Bastard, she thought, almost fondly.

"Ne, Sasuke, have you seen any of my books for Japanese around? I could have sworn I packed them this morning…"

Sasuke merely leaned against the back of the lockers, arms folded as he glared at a couple of girls across the hall giggling behind their hands.

"Hn, you should come with nametags, maybe then you wouldn't lose everything all the time."

Naruto snapped her head up from rummaging in her bag.

"Teme, I _do _name everything, people just don't give them back."

Sasuke gave a half-shrugged and didn't reply. Naruto had learnt that this was a half-apology for bringing a subject up, the closest one she would probably ever get from the Uchiha. She knew what it meant, however, so she couldn't care less.

She growled once more and she shifted her bag over her shoulder and was about to drag Sasuke off to their next lesson when a voice stopped her. It was Sasuke- and he didn't sound like his usual bastard-self.

"Te-Temari?"

"Sasuke-chan?"

Naruto's head snapped around faster than the speed of light. Who on earth got away with calling Sasuke-I'm-such-a-big-bastard-you-could-choke-Uchiha chan?

Looking around, she noticed a young women, probably in the later years of High school, if her uniform was any indication, looking at Sasuke with a fair amount of surprise. Glancing over, she was shocked to find that Sasuke looked somewhat…flustered. It was hard to tell, but for one who had studied the mysterious language that was Uchiha-ese, it was clear as day. If she squinted, she was sure she could make out a faint blush.

What the hell was going on?

"Temari, what are you doing here?" asked Sasuke, voice sounding a little higher than usual.

'Temari' laughed lightly, "Oh, no need to sound so accusing Sasuke-chan, I was just her to check up on my brother Gaara, he's a year below you I think."

Sasuke nodded, while Naruto narrowed her eyes slightly at the figure of the older blonde.

Said woman, seemed to have just noticed the younger girl standing next to the Uchiha.

"Ahh, Sasuke-chan, who is this? You never told me about having a girlfriend," teased Temari, eye's glinting with mirth.

She was the only one who seemed to think anything about that statement was amusing.

"She's not my girlfriend!"

"I'm not his girlfriend!"

They both yelled out hotly, simultaneously, before glaring at the other. Naruto's however, was hiding her shock as she did so. She had never heard Sasuke talk like that- like a normal human being. She glanced over to Temari, just who was she?

Temari seemed to notice her curios gaze and gave a faint smile.

"You're probably wondering how I know Sasuke right?" she didn't wait for Naruto's hesitant nod, "Well, we've known each other since a moved round the corner a few years ago, I'm friends with his brother, so I'm round quite often, so we get to talk a lot, don't we Sasuke-chan?"

Naruto was sincerely relieved to see some 'normal' Sasuke behaviour as the dark haired boy scowled at being repeatedly called 'Sasuke-chan'.

"And you!" accused Temari, pointing an reproving finger in the Uchiha's direction, "you never told me about actually having a friend, I'm sure Itachi would be overjoyed to hear you're not so bad tempered not to have any friends at all!"

For reasons unknown, Naruto saw Sasuke seem to pale at the mention of Itachi, his already pale skin bleaching to paper white.

"Th-that's all right Temari, no need to do that," he muttered hoarsely.

Temari glanced at him curiously, before seeming to dismiss his odd behaviour, fiddling with the clasp bag in her hands.

"Well, I'm afraid that I have to get going, Gaara's waiting for me in the Nurse's office."

She started walking down the hall.

"Adiosu, Sasuke-chan!" She waved and turned the corner, vanishing from sight.

She glanced to Sasuke, noticing how his eyes followed her, and the way his eyes seemed a little darker when she disappeared.

Naruto felt her heart sink down to somewhere near her shoes. Sasuke…Sasuke was in love with somebody. For the first time in a while, her throat felt dry again.

Sasuke turned to her, black eye's questioning as he saw her glazed eyes. He frowned slightly. It was just like the dobe to suddenly space out like that.

"Come on baka," he said harshly, "we're late for class."

He stalked off, leaving Naruto to catch up as she hurried after him, morbidly wondering how that woman could make Sasuke's eye's light up like that.

* * *

**A/N: Tomorrow, i'll either post another chapter, or take it down, so review and tell me what you want, ja!**


	2. That Loneliness

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.

**A/N:Well, no one complained, and i got some alerts and reviews too! As people asked for an update, here it is, i hope it doesn't dissapoint. I'm pretty sure next chapter is the last, and it'll be up in a couple of days maybe. So, that said, read and hopefully review too!**

Warnings: Some swearing, OOC.

* * *

Middle school, Naruto decided early that morning, absolutely sucked- even more than when Iruka got married. 

"Hey lovely! Nice outfit, I bet that skirt would look great on the floor next to my bed!"

She growled in consternation and whipped around, sorely tempted to give the idiot who shouted _that _out a black eye. Unfortunately, before she had the opportunity, one of the other boy's who she dimly recognised as from the year above, shoved against her shoulder, sending her tumbling to the ground, bag spilling its contents as it hit the floor with a 'smack'. Growling, she glared out at the chortling older boys.

"You fucking prats! What the fuck was that for?!"

"Well, I just thought it'd be so good to be able to see you below me is all…" he leered out at her with a grin, eye's callously roving up her legs to try to glimpse under her skirt.

Seething, she grit her teeth and sharply reached behind her to yank her skirt down, fighting the strengthening urge to hit something.

"Misumi! Don't be so crude!" shrieked a girl from the sidelines, "Trash like that shouldn't even be touched like that!"

Despite how used to this she was, Naruto couldn't help the slightest flinch. Not so much from the insult, but more from what she was sure was about to follow.

"You shouldn't be getting any ideas Uzumaki! Uchiha may keep you around out of pity, but we all know what you're really worth."

The unknown girl sneered down at her, just yet another of the nameless faces, before a malicious grin settled onto her pointed features, allowing her to speak her next words with nothing less than unrestrained glee.

"_Nothing! _Not only did your parents not want you!" Naruto twitched, "But the only ones who would adopt you are a couple of faggots, who wouldn't have been able to get anyone else!"

Naruto clenched her fists so tight as she stared at the floor that she felt blood start to ooze out from beneath her palms, smattering the floor with bright red droplets. The other girl wasn't finished.

"Face it Uzumaki, you don't mean _anything_ to _anybody!"_

Naruto glared at her with steely blue eyes.

"_Shut up_! Just shut the fuck up, you bitch! What the fucking hell do you know anyways?!"

The other girl scoffed from above her.

"I don't need to know-"

"What the hell is going on here?" asked a low voice from the end of the corridor; tone sending chills down their spines.

The boys around her shifted nervously, casting surreptitious glances, particularly to 'Misumi', before shuffling away, muttering to disguise the speed in which they departed, the unknown girl having already shot off after the last syllable.

Naruto sighed as the group disappeared round the corner and scrambled to collect all her things together from the floor. She cursed slightly as she didn't manage to finish before the footsteps from behind had halted, and she suddenly saw someone crouch in her line of vision.

She sighed as the other figure picked up any lost papers and smartly piled them together.

"Are you _ever _out of trouble, baka…" he mumbled, handing back the papers to a recalcitrant Naruto.

"Hmph, its not my fault everyone in this place are arseholes, now is it?" she asked grumpily, as she haphazardly stuffed her things into her bag and pushed herself off the floor.

The other stood with her, but merely sighed.

"Only you Naruto…"

"Oi!" she said, frowning at the boy in front of her, "shouldn't you be in a class or something right about now?"

Sasuke turned to glance at her carelessly, an eyebrow lifted to express his small amusement at her having ask such a redundant and hopelessly useless question.

"Hn, dobe."

Naruto squawked in offence and spun to glare at him. Unfortunately for her, her genetics ensured that her glaring capability was vastly limited, her eye structure better suited to pleading and begging. Unlike the Uchiha's, which were perfectly designed to scorch holes into steel panels at over twenty-five feet.

"And here I thought that you had memorised my timetable."

Naruto huffed from beside him once again as they marched through the burgundy hallway. Personally, she had always wondered why their middle school had such…gothic, dreary architecture, but she'd never quite found the right person to ask about it. Of course, she'd talked off Sasuke's ear about it several times, but he didn't really count, considering he'd never lower himself to care about such things, and wouldn't bother to reply anyway.

"Anyway, I came to find you to ask you something."

Naruto glanced at the boy beside her, startled. They'd grown much closer over they years, but the Uchiha hardly ever actually _sought her out_. And to ask her something too- he usually never cared about her opinion about anything. Usually, he'd tell her to do something, she would howl about how he was such a controlling bastard, argue with him for a while, before ultimately giving in to whatever he'd told her to do. It was one of the things she enjoyed most about Sasuke- the way they could fight amicably over nothing.

"Eh? What about?" she asked.

Sasuke stared ahead, black eyes dull.

"My parents are throwing a…birthday party for Itachi on Friday. Don't ask why," he said, sounding sour, "I've been told to invite my 'friend'."

Naruto halted and observed him with great scrutiny. Sasuke wasn't sounding right. If it were anything to do with his brother, then he'd be practically spitting fire. Not to mention he wasn't glaring at anything in the immediate vicinity, even after being 'forced' to ask her to come along. She narrowed her eyes, and glanced at him sharply as he stared at her indolently.

"You sound too happy…" she muttered. If anyone else were to overhear their conversation, they would surely look at her as if she were mad. But Naruto was incredibly fluent in the branch off of Uchiha-ese, its even more illusive and unpredictable cousin, Sasuke-ese. And Sasuke, though undoubtedly not particularly pleased with having to go, was still not nearly angry enough.

"Temari is going to be there, isn't she?" asked Naruto abruptly.

Sasuke suddenly stiffened, just barely noticeable and his gaze hardened as he appraised his blonde companion.

"And what if she is? I though you said that you liked her?" he demanded harshly, getting both impatient and irate.

Naruto pursed her lips slightly, and looked askance at him, blue eye's uncharacteristically serious.

"She's perfectly lovely, Sasuke," she said after a moments contemplation, inwardly dismayed to know that what she had said was wholly true.

"Good," grunted Sasuke, who swiftly began striding off down the corridor again.

"I'll pick you up at seven, make sure to wear something nice, undoubtedly my parents will want to meet you. Don't act anything like yourself and you should be fine."

Naruto hurried after him, and though scowling at the insult, nodded along nonetheless, figuring he would know better on matters such as these. She had actually been over at his house before in the past, but never when his parents were around, and she had only ever met Itachi once. She shivered slightly, recalling the cold, _red_ eyes that had callously sized her up, before apparently judging her as 'passable' before leaving. Sasuke, she remembered, had quickly pulled her away and vehemently ordered her to _never_ be a room alone with Itachi again.

She frowned vaguely at the memory, wondering if it was ironic to be going to the man's birthday party.

* * *

Parties, in her opinion, were a whole lot more trouble then they were worth. Or perhaps, it was merely trying to get ready for one when you had a fussing Iruka muttering in the corner about "passing Uchiha standards…" and a perverted recently-adopted-father-figure Kakashi sitting cross legged on her bed, dirty orange book in hand, making increasingly awkward suggestions about her outfit choices. 

Apparently, men are always impressed by bare necks and a low cut cleavage line, which would certainly bag her an Uchiha man; didn't really matter which- they were all rich as hell.

Kakashi rapidly revised his statement when Iruka swapped him hard around the head, and Naruto wrenched his precious 'Icha Icha Paradise' out of his hands. It was only returned after much pathetic grovelling and some highly disturbing crying on Kakashi's part.

When the doorbell had rung, Iruka had let her leave with stern warnings to be back by midnight and Kakashi had added his own input by cheerfully informing Sasuke that he fully expected to be part of the family by the time Naruto turned sixteen.

Naruto had promptly shut the door on the grey haired perverts face, laughing nervously when Sasuke shot her an enquiring look.

When they'd arrived, she'd been quickly shuffled before two people who could only be Sasuke's parents, where after much observation, was again deemed 'passable', though Fugaku, Sasuke's father had commented on Uzumaki being a 'weak name', though he personally _knew _Kakashi, and suggested she take his name, Hatake instead, it being of far greater importance.

Naruto was rather pleased that she didn't manage to actually bit her entire tongue off during the encounter. Sasuke, in one of his rare moments, had taken her over to a corner and then come back with ice cream as reward. Though he watched her eat it all, so as to make sure she didn't make her mess of herself, all the while muttering about "the dobe having the approximate maturity of a three year old". She could have sworn he was smiling as he said it, though it admittedly may have been a trick of the light and nothing more.

In all actuality, the evening had been going well, until Sasuke spotted Temari, and immediately left her to her own devices in a crowd of people she didn't know. All he cared about was the older woman, who Naruto was forced to admit looked rather beautiful that evening, a black kimono dress with intense red obi.

She'd quickly averted her eyes and licked morosely on her spoon. She let herself smile vindictively as she heard Temari's yelled out a greeting of "Sasuke-chan!"

Good luck there, Sasuke-yarou, she thought to herself bitterly, I don't need you to keep my company.

She glanced to the pair, feeling her stomach writhe painfully as she saw Temari ruffle Sasuke's hair. She had always wanted to do that- to be able to feel Sasuke's hair. She wasn't a stalker or anything that would steal people hairs for no reason, but…Sasuke's hair just looked so silky and soft, more so than her own by far. And when his dark bangs would flutter occasionally in the wind, the urge would be hard to suppress.

But she knew, that she could never do it. Would never be allowed to indulge in any Uchiha hair fondling. Sasuke would probably take it the wrong way and he would immediately dismiss her as an unnecessary annoyance'. He'd probably never talk to her again. And then she'd lose her best friend forever.

Her only friend.

She was relieved when midnight rolled around and she had an excuse to leave. As Sasuke escorted her home, neither of them said a single word.

* * *

She looked over herself critically in the mirror, irritably straightening her skirt, in the process hoping that it might miraculously gain some extra material. She pulled her hand away and grimaced when she realised just _how_ short it really was. It fit last year just fine, falling well over her knees! And now it suddenly decided that it didn't? Not to mention that she was pretty sure she stopped growing any taller at least a year or so ago. 

Stupid High School uniform- and she had thought the middle school one was bad.

Making a mental note to tell Iruka she needed a new, _longer_, school skirt, she whirled around to snag her bag off her bed, passing by the various posters and photographs littering her walls, most of which containing her and Sasuke somewhere or another, her grinning, and him generally making a point of remaining as stoic as physically possible.

Stomping down the stairs, she spoke a muffled 'bye!' through the toast she had lynched off of Iruka and swung her way out the door, pausing just briefly enough to toe on her shoes, making a noise of frustration as the person waiting on the pavement called for her to hurry up.

"Yeah, yeah, wait will you?"

Her only reply was an acidic "Tch."

Rolling her eyes, she pranced down the patio to swing a leg over the seat of a motorcycle; deftly grabbing onto the helmet the driver passed her.

She glanced down cautiously at the new bike, feeling a little nervous at the size of the much larger engine.

"Ano…are you sure you can actually get me to school? Preferably not in teeny tiny pieces?"

Sasuke merely snorted.

"Stop being such a baka, it's just a larger engine, nothing to worry about."

Naruto rolled her eyes once again.

"Yeah, sure, that is so _very_ reassuring. I still haven't forgotten the time when you nearly ditched us in that hedge you know."

Sasuke fumed from in front of her, and grasped tightly onto the handle, revving the throttle.

"Shut up, usuratonkachi."

Naruto opened her mouth to scream back an appropriate insult, but lost her voice as they pulled out of the driveway at high speed. Clenching for her life onto Sasuke's waist, she hugged herself closer out of fear and screwed her eyes tightly shut, already knowing to follow his movements round a corner. When they got to school she was going to kill that stupid, fucking Uchiha!

* * *

Sasuke slammed the locker door shut, walking over to the bin to throw the handful of pastel coloured envelops that had been waiting in his locker down into the recesses of the black bin liner. 

He idly wondered where the dobe had gone off to. She usually spent her mornings before class with him, generally trying to steal answers for her homework off of him- he always refused. She'd glared heftily at him when they'd arrived to school, then slung her bag over her shoulder, somehow making the movement as masculine as possible before stalking with large strides through the double doors, obviously angry at him for his little display of 'speed'. It wasn't as if he was going to kill them or anything. Tch.

And that bloody hedge had _not _previously been round that corner, he was sure of it.

He scowled in memory of that blasted hedge, whose legacy would never ever be forgotten. Naruto would make sure of _that_.

He once again pondered where the blonde had gone off to, before smirking as a thought crossed his mind. She was probably in the bathroom, fussing over her rather too short skirt. He would have to complement her on it later.

He made his way slowly to his maths room, casually striding through the door to settle into his usual seat at the back. It was quite a relief that Naruto didn't make it into this class; seeing so much of her would surely drive him insane. Not to mention deaf- she could be incredibly loud at all times of the day. Not that he didn't see her most of the time anyway, that is. Though he was quite sure his thesis on idiocy being contagious was almost proved wrong. He'd been hanging around Naruto for years and was pleased to announce no sharp drop in his intellect.

As the rest of the class slowly filtered in, Sasuke let his mind wander, idly remembering how excited the dobe had been when she learned that the High School both were going to was so far away from their last one. A whole new batch of friends, she had happily exclaimed. Sasuke had been less enthusiastic.

But when he'd seen how happy she was, he let himself smile a little, just for her. She was his best friend after all, no matter how much he had tried to deny it over the years. Naruto just squirmed her way right in there and refused to budge, despite forceful discouragement. She forced on him the friendship he never wanted. And he couldn't be more grateful to her. She made daily life bearable, just as much as she could make it unbearable; it was a saving grace on the days when life simply seemed far too difficult to continue. In fact, all he really needed was for Temari to go out with him, despite being in college, and his life would more than just tolerable, he was sure of it.

During the past six years, Sasuke had often come to this conclusion; that everything would fall into place, once he and Temari finally got together. For he was sure that it would happen. Sasuke didn't believe in dreams, only reality, and he _would _make Temari that which was realism. He loved her; had from the moment she stood over him with that umbrella on that grey day.

"Feeling lost Uchiha, with your other half missing?"

Sasuke roused himself as subtlety as possible from his thoughts to glare at the person sitting in front.

"Sai…" he growled, eyes narrowing on the other boy. Ever since they met on the first day, they shared a mutual tension, bordering on anger. Up till now, neither of them had broken out into an all out fight, but the pressure lay simmering under them, increasing every time they rubbed each other the wrong way.

Not aided on Sai's part by the strange looks he would give to Naruto between his false smiles that the teachers ate up like sugar.

The glances unnerved him for some reason, and always left him with the desire to hit something hard, a wall, a locker, a window, _Sai_…

Before he could continue his retort, itched into existence by the other pale boy, the teacher breezed into the room, the door banging shut behind him. Sai gave him a hopelessly fake smile and turned to face the front, leaving Sasuke to glare at his back.

* * *

When the bell rang, Naruto couldn't help but sigh with the greatest relief, darting out of her seat at high speed, determined to change her books right away then head off to the lunch hall to wheedle some ramen out of Choiji, who reports indicated, had some stashed away in the extra lunch box he always brought with him. She liked it here; it was a much larger school, so there were plenty of students to get lost in, not to mention no one knew her, or knew about what sort of guardians she had either. She'd even been able to make some new friends, though of course Sasuke would always rank more important_. Always_. 

She closed her locker door and was just about to move away when she turned and let out a yelp, slamming back into the metal lockers.

"Sai!" she cried, "Don't _do _that!"

Said boy merely smiled and shook his head slightly.

"I'm ever so sorry Naruto-kun…"

She frowned at the male suffix to her name, ever touchy about it, but disregarded it as simply Sai being Sai-insensitive and weird. But sorta sweet sometimes too, in his own way. Like the absolutely gorgeous picture he had drawn for her just the other day, claiming her as inspiration. She had eventually taken it after much argument and blushing.

"What did you want Sai?" she asked, not feeling too generous with her time, considering potential ramen was beckoning plaintively to her from the direction of Akimichi Choiji.

"Aa, I have a proposition for you Naruto-kun,"

"Oh?" she asked, lifting an eyebrow questioningly (it had taken nearly six years practice and a hell of a lot of observation, but she'd managed to-finally- do that stupid gesture that Sasuke could simply pull off naturally- bastard).

Sai smiled once again.

* * *

Sasuke was slowly wandering over to where he knew Naruto's locker to be. He hadn't seen her all day, since she got off his bike at the beginning of school. He refused to think he was missing her after only that small amount of time, but decided that he ought to try to catch up to her; she usually got into trouble in less than an hour without him. 

"Aa, I have a proposition for you Naruto-kun,"

Sasuke stiffened and halted just behind the corner that would lead out into the main hallway where the second lot of lockers were stationed. He knew that voice- Sai. And he was talking to Naruto.

Unbeknownst to him, he growled loud enough that surrounding people could actually hear it as they went passed, curiously glancing around before finding the source of it and then backing away slowly, before running. Quickly.

"Oh?"

Sasuke grit his teeth but refrained from moving, instead intent to know what he about to hurt that weirdo, him look-a-like for.

"Yes, I was wondering, since I know you're single, whether you wouldn't mind going out with me?"

Sasuke's thought process momentarily died.

Wha-?

From the other side, it seemed that Naruto was having a similar reaction.

"Wha-? Sai…."

"Here me out Naruto-kun, I know you're very attached to Sasuke-kun, but I'm afraid that since he isn't actually going out with you, then you're completely free for me to try to take-"

Sai didn't get to finish, mostly due to the fist that connected with his face, sending him to the floor with a wet 'smack!'

"Sasuke!" yelled, Naruto, half in shock, half in outrage.

"You," he spat, pointing at Sai, who was cradling a bloody nose on the ground, "stay _away_ from her, understand?"

Sai, unlike any normal person, wasn't intimidated by the seething Uchiha.

"I don't think you have a right to tell Naruto-kun what to do, Uchiha."

Sasuke tutted dangerously, and it was clear form his expression that he was just about to cleanly break Sai's nose in half when Naruto interrupted them.

"Sai! That's enough! I'm sorry, but I'm afraid that I don't want to go out with you," she said sternly.

Sasuke however, only received a moment of feeling smug, before the dobe turned around on him, sounding far angrier- in fact she seemed almost livid.

"And _you!_ What the hell do you think gives _you _the right to tell me what to do, or anyone else for that matter? Why did you care if I go out with someone, huh?"

Sai didn't seem to be too upset for being turned down, sitting as he was on the floor, blood slowly trickling down his face. That Uchiha could hit hard.

"Me?!" yelled Sasuke, feeling the incredulity of the situation sink in. How dare she question him, when he'd just saved her from more harassment? The blonde suddenly infuriated him; she didn't know anything!

"I'm not the one who's a naive idiot who thinks that as long as someone doesn't insult them to their face, then they're good people! You'd never know if someone was taking advantage of you!"

Naruto clenched her fists, starting to turn red in the face, blue eyes spitting.

"Oh?! I see how it is, you can do whatever you want, but I can't?!"

"Not when you can't look after yourself!"

Sasuke knew as soon as he said it, from the look on Naruto's face that he shouldn't have. She suddenly went quiet, and whenever Naruto went quiet it never led to anything good.

"…Naruto, I di-"

Naruto didn't bother to wait for his excuse, she merely turned around, head hung low and stalked out the building. As she reached the doors, she pushed them open and then with a strength belying her small frame, slammed the metal so hard that it ricocheted off the wall, denting the plaster.

Sasuke couldn't help but wince slightly, regardless of the crowd that had stopped to watch; it wasn't everyday you saw an Uchiha blow their calm.

"Good luck with that Uchiha," Sai sweetly cooed from his position on the floor.

Sasuke glared, and ruthlessly pushed his way through the silent halls, people jittering out of his way like fish disturbed in a pond. He slammed his way out the double doors and he yanked some keys from his pocket and revved the engine of his motorcycle, before roaring off home, uncaring that he had left halfway through lunch.

* * *

**A/N:So, how was that? Silly Sasuke, still thinking about Temari #shakes head. Anyway, the final installment has far more emotions, and revelations; so until then. Oh, and please review, so i know how to edit the next chapter, lol. **


	3. Turn your Rubies Blue

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.

**A/N: Well, thankyou you very much for all your reviews, its nice to know that people like my story! Its made me happier over the OOC of my characters. Well, this is the last chapter, i hope you enjoy it. Just bear in mind that things have been in the making for years in this fic and i hope thatthe end is satisfying. Feedback would be much appreciated- i would really like to know what you think about my writing :)**

Warnings: Fem Naruto, references to violence, suicide and various other things, some fluff and OOC characters.

* * *

**Turn your Rubies Blue**

He cursed and gave an irritated jerk on his keys before twisting harshly to open the lock. As the door gave way, he tugged the keys free and stormed over the entranceway, kicking the door shut with a 'bang!'

He made his way sullenly over to the base of the stairs, still crowded with furious resentment. The drive home hadn't been able to lift his mood any, and if anything, the surprisingly large amount of traffic on the way home had only inflamed his irritability further.

Stupid dobe.

Stupid girl for being so naïve; it was obvious what Sai wanted. The blonde was just far too innocent to realise that it involved her spreading her legs.

Stupid Naruto for getting so easily offended over nothing; his treatment was completely undeserved on her part.

Stupid _him_- after knowing her for years and yet still able to upset her when he wasn't thinking about it.

He permitted himself to scowl and took a step up the flight of stairs, intent to brood further in his own room before he was stopped by a voice from behind.

"Well now otouto, shouldn't you be in school at the moment?"

Sasuke stiffened where he was; on the first step, hand loosing trailing the banister. He refused to turn around.

He grunted in reply.

Itachi didn't seem to care.

"My, aren't we in a bad mood," he said coldly.

Sasuke's hand clenched tightly onto the mahogany railing, fingertips pressed white.

"You fought with Naruto-chan," he stated mildly, managing somehow to sound distant even when using such personal names.

"What do you want Itachi?" asked Sasuke through gritted teeth, still adamantly keeping his back to his older brother.

Itachi blinked languidly from his position at the bottom of the stairs, and observed his 'otouto' through a half lidded stare.

"Okaasan and Otousan are arriving back tomorrow night, they called."

Sasuke nodded stiffly.

"Anything else, aniki?"

Itachi took a few moments before replying, perhaps, behind his emotionless façade, taking some enjoyment with taunting his obviously very irate younger brother.

"They expect to speak with you upon their return, I believe it had something to do with midterm reports…"

Itachi watched dispassionately as Sasuke faced him, whipping around with a face whiter than chalk.

The two brothers merely stared at each other for a few moments, but Sasuke obviously wouldn't dare to say anything in reply, and, after ascertaining that his brother was indeed speaking the truth, merely nodded absently, and jogged up the remaining stairs and to his room.

He snapped the door shut behind him and collapsed on top of his bed; his fight with Naruto put on hold. If he had thought that this day couldn't get any worse, then as usual, his dearest family had taken it upon themselves to prove him wrong.

He glanced to the digital clock stationed on his bedside table, already counting down the hours until his parents arrived.

* * *

Naruto rolled onto her back and glared at the ceiling.

A week.

It had been over an entire week, and she and Sasuke had _still _not stopped fighting. Well, fighting was a rather extreme word. More like not apologised and in the subsequent interim both were using the rather vast verbal arsenal that they had tucked away just for such occasions.

Though this time, she had to admit, was far worse than any of their usual arguments. They hadn't gone so long without civil conversation since their huge row back when they were twelve. Sasuke had been seriously contemplating moving to the other side of Tokyo, just so he could go to a boarding school. Naruto had had serious objections on the matter, considering she would never be able to follow, it being a boy's only institution.

Sasuke had accused of her being selfish, and she had vehemently denied him the right to go. Which had only angered him all the more at the time. The argument had eventually culminated in an all out brawl when Naruto cracked and punched him in the face, and in return Sasuke forgot all about the rule of 'not hitting girls'.

Sasuke had, due to several advantages due to his genetics and gender, proved victorious. Naruto had at first been appropriately furious but had gone further into despair the entire summer after, spending most of it in tears that a fretful Iruka had done all his best to stop. He hadn't succeeded and she spent most of the summer break dreading her entrance to middle school, where she would be alone, and friendless, with no Sasuke to comfortingly insult her from behind.

When she turned up on the first day, and they were seated alphabetically, she had never been more shocked in her entire life when she heard the prickly sound of "Usuratonkachi," from behind her.

She sighed mournfully in remembrance, recalling with the utmost clarity the smirk and then annoyed glare of the Uchiha as she had first just gaped at him, and then proceeded to tackle him in a monster bear hug to the floor. He'd not been amused when she had socked him in eh face right after either.

And this was the first time since then that she felt as worried and anxious as she had done during those dreadful holidays all those years ago.

She huffed and stared at the dusty, broken spider web that decorated one corner, and let her eyes trace the faint cracks that had appeared through the plaster. Her gaze fell to the window, unseeingly staring out into the night, the faint blare of orange from the streetlights casting strange shadows on the tree outside her window.

She ignored the gnawing feeling eating away at her stomach, turning her attention back towards the ceiling. Kakashi was downstairs molesting Iruka in the kitchen, and she'd finished all her homework about an hour ago, _then_ tidied her room and sorted through her mail. She'd officially run out of things to do.

She tilted off the bed to grab at the phone lying innocuously on her carpet, checking her messages for about the twelfth time that night.

Sasuke hadn't been in school today. And when Sasuke didn't turn up for school, then it meant trouble. And that Sasuke needed help. She refused to think about the last time it had occurred. It had culminated in a hospital visit, and Sasuke had looked so sickly pale on those white sheets…

She frowned and worried her lip between her teeth, staring at the phone screen, as if urging it to just ring. Was that really so difficult, _really_?

Stupid teme…. making her worry about him. If he was just ill, she was so gonna-

Her thoughts were cut off by the jingle of her ring tone. Startled, she fiddled clumsily with the buttons, pressing on the 'accept'.

"Sasuke?" she asked, concern lacing her voice as she only heard heavy breathing coming from the receiver.

"Na-Naruto…" came the husky voice at the other end of the line.

"Shit!" she cursed lowly, a scowl twisting her features. She kept the mobile stuck to her ear as she tumbled off the bed and began hunting around for her bag.

"Sasuke…" she murmured softly, "what happened?"

For a few seconds, she feared he wouldn't answer, the thick, choked breathing crackling through the line.

"I just- nothing- I…"

She waited patiently for him to stop stuttering, now routing her desk for her keys.

"My father- he just- and Itachi…" there was another rattle, "I don't know…"

Ignoring the uncharacteristically inarticulate Uchiha, she padded down the stairs, and waved dismissively to Iruka as he glanced over at her curiously. Thankfully he was quickly distracted as Kakashi took his inattention to grab him from behind.

"All right Sasuke, now where are you?" she inquired gently, but firmly.

There was a deep inhale.

"Not too sure…I think it's the public bathroom off main Jinan…"

"Near that really good ramen stand?" she asked in brightened surprise.

"How the hell should I know?!" growled out Sasuke, his usual fierceness drowned out somewhat by his thick voice.

Naruto's face softeneed.

"I'l be there really soon, so don't do anyhting stupid okay?"

She paused.

"You haven't done something stupid already have you?!" she demanded anxiously.

"…"

"…" Naruto clenched onto the phone tightly, eyes wide.

"Not yet…"

Naruto couldn't help but let out a sigh of relief, tilting her head back so it hit the light blue wall next to the door.

"Okay, just stay there and I'll be right over!"

She snapped the phone shut and hurried out the front door, calling out a hurried goodbye over her shoulder to Iruka, who only mumbled in reply, occupied by a much satisfied Kakashi.

* * *

The door to the public bathroom slammed open, the grey skies and spitting rain making a brief appearnacne before the door swung shut once more, though this time with a blonde girl inside, completly uncaring to the fact that it was a men's toilet. She took one look at the hunched figure on the floor and whirled around to snap the lock shut.

She slowly appraoched the form on the wet, dirty floor, whose dark hair was plasetered to his forehead, and was propped up only by the curve of his spine, pales hands lying limply.

"Oh Sasuke…" she whispered. This wasn't the first time that somehting like this had happened, and she always had the sinking feeling that it wouldn't be the last either. For sometimes, even the strongest of people can crack under the strain of their burdens, and Sasuke had larger burdens then most.

She moved calmly over to the hunched boy, and knelt down beside him, insensible to the dirt seeping into her clothes. The toilet was quite large, but was dank and wet, the entire room filled with a green grungy light that reflected off the tiles. Sasuke didn't even bother to recognise her, apart from leaning slightly when she put an arm around his shoulders and pulled her to him.

He flet cold under her palms, and she swallowed back the flashbacks of a year ago, when open bottles and small white pills scattered across the floor.

She tried to shift him to a better position, but ended up stumbling for her trouble. Sasuke gripped tightly onto her shirt.

She evenutally manged to maneuver them, without much help from a still unresponsive Sasuke, so that both were roughly comfortable and she was able to draw him into a proper embrace. She trembled slightly as he buried his head into the area between chest and neck, and his shoulder's shook a little.

She bit her lip, and glanced down to the soft black hair; all that she could see of him. It must have been really bad this time.

She let a hand rise to start to gently run its way over his back and shoulders, the other moving to craddle his head.

"Shhh….its all right now…shhhhh…."

She whispered to him, knowing that it would make little differnece, but attmepting anyway to at least soothe him a little with her voice. She could feel his ragged breathing on the skin of her neck and she clutched him a little tighter, hoping to share a little warmth; he felt so cold.

"Was-" she bit her lip in hesitation, "was it Itachi?"

Her question was soft, but Sasuke simply shook his head, not to deny it but to simply signal his incapability to answer any questions she may want to ask. She sighed quietly and rubbed his back a little more, continueing to murmer softly to him, ever mindful of the winces he gave when she ran over certain portions of his back.

This…this was Sasuke. The real Sasuke.

Underneath all of that prickly exterior and harsh, antisocial behaviour.

It was a part, that only she had ever been allowed to see, and it had been during one of these times, when Sasuke had confessed to her, that she was his closest friend. At the time, both had been crying, well, Sasuke wasn't exactly, but as close as he got- the same as now, more like dry heaivng every now and then and not breathing properly. They'd both been rather emotional, and the entire ordeal had been incredibly draining.

Being best friends with Uchiha Sasuke was taxing at all times though, really. He came with a lot…to deal with, and even attempting to discover all of it was an almost impossible challenge; he never let anyone in.

The only reason she was there, was because she had forcibly barged her way in, and not let Sasuke push her out, no matter how hard he'd tried.

And so, here she was, at nearing one in the morning, on a school night, crouched in some dingy public bathroom crouching on the wet, sodden floors with an armful of emotioanlly distressed Uchiha. She could certianly have never imagined this, back at ten years old, when she determined to be his friend.

Yet, she had no desire whatsoever, to be anywhere else. No matter what he did, or what happened, by Sasuke was the only place she would ever want to be. The reason, was pathetically simple.

She loved him.

More then anything, more than she could have ever imagined loving someone. So much so, that it hurt. Constantly.

She hadn't always though.

She thought she did, back when she was just a little girl, trying to show some affection. It had been a complete delusion, she hadn't even _known_ Sasuke at all, apart from the covert glacnes from the other side of the classroom. Her infatuation with him at a young age may even have been attributed to wanting to seem similar to the other girl's in the class, perhaps to find some common ground so they wouldn't ignore her anymore. Not that that had helped any.

When she did become friends with Sasuke, she had buried down her 'feelings', intelligent enough to realise, that Sasuke would never be friends with any of the hopeless girls that followed him around all the time, proclaiming undying love and affection. It hadn't taken long, once Sasuke finally degined to speak with her on occasion, for the roots of true attachment to form. She had ruthlessly pushed these down as well, wanting to avoid linking herself with 'those girls' she had quickly come to despise, for the same reasons as Sasuke..

And then, there was the inescapable woman; Temari. Perfectly pretty, perfectly lovely, charming, smart, witty and a thousand other things. And Sasuke's eventual goal. Yes, she knew all about Temari. Sasuke, in his small bouts of openess had discussed her with her. And what could she say? When her dearest person finally looked…happy about something?

She had tried to keep her unavoidable dislike of Temari a secret, not wanting to be seen as a removal to be purged (Sasuke could be surprisingly sensitive), but she felt as if she had failed on more than one occasion in completely hiding it from Sasuke's keen view. He did, after all, know her just as much as she knew him.

She had spent years in denial, or rather, in a state of express hate towards reality.

She was in love with him.

Not handsome, top student, doesn't like sweets Uchiha Sasuke, but the boy who had an alarming addiction to anything with almond sugar in it, who would half hum, half sing in the shower, and who would lock himself and break down on the dirty wet floor of a bathroom, ruled by his emotions like any other perosn in the world was.

Sasuke.

And he wouldn't ever know of the true extent of her devotion to him either. He could never return her affections, he was head over heels for Temari, always had been. Not to mention, if she ever admitted it, there was the ever present fear that he would simply discard her. She couldn't take that; she didn't think he could take that either. But the fact remained that she couldn't be the one to cause that light in his eyes, or be the one he dreamt of holding, kissing, loving.

She woulnd't ever hold that place in his heart. The knowledge hurt more than anything, but she refused to ever say anything.

Which was part of the reason why, whenever Sasuke had one of his truly kind, rare sweet moments with her, which made her feel more valued than anything she could ever say, think or feel, she would hold onto them deep within her heart, and treasure them desperately.

For there, she could pretend that his soft dark eyes and slight smile were just for her, and her alone.

The love she held for him was ever so bittersweet, mostly because she knew that it wasn't simply a crush or infatuation. She knew because no matter what she felt, she would always put his happiness before her own. And his happiness involved Temari- and not herself.

She would never say it to him. Not once.

She held her silence.

She would be content with what she had- she was his closest friend. And that was more than she could ever ask for.

She slowly rubbed at his back, still slightly concerned that he still felt so cold. How long had he been in here? She bit her lip, silently wondeirng if she should take him home, or to her place. From his more even breathing, he sounded like he was going to be alright; for now at least.

She shifted slightly, so to get some feeling back into her legs, and let her hands slip through his hair, gently petting. It really was as silky as she had thought.

Heh.

It was softer then hers.

Bastard.

* * *

"Hey, Naruto!"

Naruto perked up from her rapidly diminishing rice bowl, and glanced curiosly over to the entrance of the lunch hall.

"Hey," grinned a girl she grudgingly recognised as Ino. Ino was one of those girls who had the mind of a viper, yet when you went in for the kill, would abruptly turn around smiling so sweetly, you'd think they were kittens. In Ino's case, she hadn't really liked Naruto at first, seeing as she was such good friends with _her _Sasuke-kun. When she found out they were just friends, she instantly became suspiciously pleasant at all times and was determined to include her in everything they did. They being the the various aqaintences Ino held all over the place.

"Yes, Ino?" she asked neutrally, already eyeing her rice bowl appreciatviely.

"Oh, I just came over to invite you to the party on Saturdy," said Ino smugly.

Naruto looked up from her tray, soba stuck halfway in her mouth.

"Party? Where?"

Ino smirked, flicking her long, platinum blonde hair over a shoulder.

"It's at Vuenos-"

Naruto snorted and swallowed her noodles.

"Ino, I hate to be the one to tell you, but we're never getting in _there_ of all places."

"Ah-ah-ah, don't be so hasty, Naruto-_kun_," Naruto scowled at the name, "but it's my friend's birthday, and his siter got him a whole load of tickets, we're all set."

Naruto raised a sceptical eyebrow.

"Well, as much as I'd like to go, I don't really feel like it, especially when I don't even know the persons whose birhtday it is."

"Oh, come on," Ino whined, "if you come, I won't ever bother you about anything ever again, I promise!"

Naruto looked over the other girl apprasingly.

"You promise eh?"

Ino nodded frantically. Naruto grinned something evil.

"Well, if you insist Ino-chan, then who am I to refuse!" she said sweetly.

Ino sighed in releif, and plucked two folded white tickets from her shoulder bag.

"Give one to Sasuke-kun will you?"

Naruto nodded solemly while she took them, but smiled as Ino turned her back to leave.

She figured she'd tell Ino that Sasuke was already busy on Saturday at a later date.

In the meantime, she had an extra ticket to use. Now the only prbolem was who would piss Ino off the most…?

She caught sight of pink hair from the edge of her vision and grinned. Several passer by's swerved the evil aura of wicked doom that had suddenly surounded her.

* * *

Saturday morning dawned clear and bright, a characteristic of the time of year. It was a fairly ordinary day, nothing momentous, and certainly not a day that warranted any particular specialty. Funny how such an ordianry day, could become extraordinary with only a little thought.

Sasuke wandered down the staris and into the kitchen blearily, taking little note of his surroundings. Sasuke, most of the time was in actual fact, a morning person. So much to be done, and so much of it could be finished before lunchtime. Today however, he was still worn-out from spending the evening at Naruto's, like he did most Friday nights actually truth be told.

They'd stayed in yesterday, both curled up on the sofa with various assortments of food, most of which was piled up around Naruto, while the blonde picked out a selection of extremely violent ninja films for them to watch. It had been…nice he decided, despite being horrendously girly (extreme blood baths not included). He'd bathed happily in the afterglow of Naruto's bubbly chatter, and found vindictive amusement as she described who she had invited with her to the party she was going to tommorrow night. She was going to Vuenos, which he vaguely remembered as being overated anyway.

His main concern was that he wasn't going with her, and though they'd gotten over their fight about Sai, Ssauke still felt irrationally uncomfortable about letting her out by herself. It was only to himself that he would ever admit that the thought of Naruto getting a boyfriend made him…nervous. If she did, would she then forget about him, leaving him alone, taking her bright countenance with her? However, this was overpowered by the boiling rage he would conjure up every time he thought of a boy being with Naruto, _his _dobe. His reasons for possesiveness, he never really dared to explore, passing them off as thinking of Naruto in the same way he would with a sister perhaps, if he ever had one.

It was the only logical conclusion he could come up with.

He sighed and headed over to the fridge, though he only ever opened it out of habit; his usual morning sustenance, regardless of being a morning person, being the black sweet goodness of caffeine.

In his tired state, he only realised someone was in the kitchen when he almost bumped into them.

"Sasuke-chan!"

Sasuke blinked, and stared at the woman in front of him, dazed mind kicking up a gear, trying to process _why__she_ would be _here_.

She must of seen the confusion on his face, for she chuckled lightly.

"Me and Itachi-kun got in late last night, and my brother would of killed me if I had come home so late, so I stayed over. But, never fear, for I am making breakfast! How you ever survive here without a female presence I'll never understand. Do you even _know_ how to use half the applicances in here?"

Sasuke shook his head wordlessly, knowing prefectly well what she wanted to know. It was odd, usually he would be blushing by now…

She waved at him with an oven mit and shepherded him to sit at the granite topped island, sitting on one of the high stools. He let himself be moved with little resistance, and she laughed at his sleepiness, before banging a cup of coffee on the counter, which he gratefully sipped.

"Ha! You're just the same, Itachi's not a morning person either, I can't even begin to imagine how much coffee you two must go through!"

Her teal eyes twinkled with amusement, as she quickly turned back to whatever she was working on over the stove. He heard the faint crackle of heated metal, and stared out the window. From the island, he had a great view of the front garden and the houses beyond. It was still early, so he could make out the bright orange on the horizon that was the rising sun. It shone in shafts through the bay glass windows, warming his entire right side where he sat, highlighting the faint twirls of steam rising from his coffee cup. He blew on it gently and sipped. He'd always liked watching the sun rise in the early morning; it vaguely reminded him of Naruto whenever he saw it.

He glanced over towards Temari, suddenly hit by how…domestic it all felt. Him sitting there drinking coffee while she made breakfast, fiddling and fussing over a packet of flour, while the morning sun illuminated her agaisnt the stone.

He frowned slightly, and averted his eyes to the fruit bowl, idly noting that the pears were growing mouldy. They'd need changing.

He was startled due to his inattention as Temari happily placed a plate on the counter in front of his nose.

"Here you go Sasuke-chan! I hope you like it!"

He frowned slgihtly at being called 'Sasuke-chan' but held his tongue. He glanced down and grimaced slightly when he noticed that she'd made pancakes. He hated them, along with many similar food items. The only time he ate them was when Naruto made them- he knew how hard the girl tried in the kitchen (being a disaster most of the time), even he didn't have the heart not to eat her efforts, not to mention that she always put almond sugar on it (he had absoluetly _no_ idea were she had gotten a hold of it), which made it more than bearable.

He continued to frown at his plate, before glancing up back to Temari, realising with stark clarity, that she didn't know him at all.

The realisation was more than distrubing.

He had always thought, that she would just naturally know, like she had known he was lost all those years ago when they met…

"Sasuke-chan," she said, as she caught him staring at her with the oddest expression on his face, "are you alright, you look a little pale- well paler than normal anyway!"

She laughed a little then, and Sasuke couldn't help but wince slightly, turning his head away.

Inside, his thoughts were a bit more chaotic. In fact, it could more accurately be described as a mass pandemonium. It was such a stupid thing to strike him- that she didn't know him- hell, he didn't really know about her either…yet, he couldn't get it out of his head.

Naruto knew him- she knew him sometimes better than he knew himself. She could be loud, rude, crude, and a complete idiot, not to metnion excrutiatingly annoying, but she was also sweet. In a way that no one else was.

He prodded at the food on his plate half heartedly and out of courtesy alone took a hesitant bite.

The dobe made better pancakes too.

He let the fork drop, as he uneasily swallowed and glanced back to Temari, who was absentmindedly washing up, not looking as bright as he'd thought, despite the sun still gleaming through the windows.

He abruptly pushed his stool away from the counter, and with a mumbled thanks ran off up the staris to grab a jumper and then dashed off again, this time out the front door.

Temari wasn't who he thought she was- she probably had never been. A thought that challenged nearly every thought he'd held for the past six years.

Add to that, Naruto kept popping up in his thoughts with alarming regularity.

He really needed to think.

* * *

Naruto sighed as the rumbling sound echoed down the street from the basmement of the club behind her and sighed a little to herself, unconsiously pouting with the action.

The night had generally been a disapointment, mostly due to her fun of bringing Sakura instead of Sasuke being spoiled at finding out exactly whose birthday it was.

Kiba- a boy she'd known before she'd come to this highschool. He'd taken the utmost delight in reminding her just why she was so glad to leave him behind.

She had swiftly made her exit, wanting no more than to simply dissapear. Or magically appear back home. Either would be great.

She sighed once and pulled her jacket closer. Once the sun went down it often cooled quite quickly, and it was only early summer.

She wandered by the side of the road, wondering absently whether to just simply attempt to make her own way home, or to wait for Ino and the others to head back together. She couldn't really decide- chance getting raped on the way home, or have to put up with Ino and Sakura at the same time.

Tough decision.

She leaned agains the metal railing, and fidgeted slightly, tugging at her sleeves in an attempt to cover her hands. It was getting really cold all of a sudden, and her fingers were already going numb.

She stood there for a while, the time slipping away as minutes ran into eachother, the night growing colder as her breath began to materialise in wisps of white smoke.

She vaguely listened to distant footsteps and let herself turn when she heard them stop short. She turned, and was distinctly surprised.

"Sasuke! What are you doing here?"

But Sasuke didn't reply, he just stared morosely at the ground, eyes fixed in their usual cold expression.

"I wouldn't expect you to know, _baka_."

Naruto frowned, but didn't reply, instead intent to focus her gaze on the passing blurs of lights in the distance.

They both stood there, side by side, indugling in the companiable silence. Naruto couldn't quite think up a reason why the other was here, so she said nothing.

"Naruto…" he started, before his voice was taken away by the wind.

She turned to him, blue eyes curious.

"I've been…doing a lot of thinking."

She cocked her head to the side, bemused by the Uchiha's newfound talkativeness.

"I-" he paused a little, a car roaring in the distance, "I knew you never really liked Temari Naruto."

Naruto glanced at him sharply, but didn't say a thing.

Sasuke paused once again, dark eyes peering out over the street impassively.

"I was wondering, why that was?"

Naruto quickly averted her eyes to the floor, noting the dirty tissue and small stones that littered the pavement.

"You know why Sasuke," she muttered lowly to the ground, "You should know me well enough."

There was no reply, but the silence was telling in its smugness. She darted her head up and glared fiercely.

"So now what? You're going to tell me to leave, that you love Temari, what Sasuke, what?"

The words came with a forced calm, and her voice was seriously low and rough. She had expected this for a long time- no need to draw it out now.

"Hn, dobe."

She blinked.

Eh?

Sasuke turned his gaze from the road, dark eyes fixed intently on her. She couldn't help but feel flustered when she realised how close they were standing.

"Temari was never a reality, merely a…dream, one that which would never be."

He fixed her with a peircing look, which stopped her interuption cold.

"You are reality Naruto, you're _my _reality."

He smirked, and she never wished for to be able to hit him more than she did at that moment.

"And you know how much I hate dreams…"

He leaned forward, and despite all the things she could of done, she simply stood there. Didn't kiss back, didn't pull away, didn't hit him like she sorely wanted to. She just felt his lips against her own, and she stood there.

Sasuke didn't seem fazed.

"Tch. Don't even know how to kiss people properly, usuratonkachi?"

He slowly moved off, ambling along down the round leisurely, hands in pockets, clearly expecting her to catch up.

Naruto blinked, and tentatively trailed a hand along her lips. They didn't _feel _any different.

Sasuke smirked as he heard the sound of her running after him, heels clacking. He wasn't _so_ prepared when she tackled him from behind, sending him sprawling on the ground.

"Wha-?"

He was interupted by the fist in his face, and as his head hit the tarmac.

He felt some blood trickle down from his nose.

He decided it wasn't so bad when she swooped down and kissed him back this time.

* * *

**A/n: So, how was it? i hope i didn't messup the end. Well, thats the end, if you have any questions regarding this fic, feel free to ask and i'll reply. Well, thats all for now, don't forget to review, ja!**


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